History

The album's title comes from a song by Ada R. Habershon (re-arranged by A. P. Carter) and reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie look. Acuff described them as "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through the Grand Ole Opry. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country's slick 'Nashville Sound,' and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years.

Alabama (Canadian band)

Alabama was a Canadian band of the early 1970s. They had two songs that reached the top 100 in the RPM Magazinechart. "Song of Love" reached #26 in June 1973, and "Highway Driving" reached #42 in August. Band members were Buster Fykes, Hector McLean, Rick Knight, and Len Sembaluk.

History

The schooner Alabama was one of the last vessels built from the design of one of the most notable designers of Gloucester Fishing Schooners, Thomas F. McManus. Commissioned by the Mobile Bar Pilot Association of Mobile, Alabama, the vessel was built in Pensacola, Florida, launched in 1926, and originally called Alabamian until her predecessor the Bar Pilot Association's original Alabama was retired. Though the hull bore strong resemblance of McMannus' famous Gloucester fishing schooner designs, it served as a pilot boat stationed on the Mobile Bar until 1966.

In 1967 the schooner was bought by Captain Robert S. Douglas, master and designer of the Shenandoah, and moved to Vineyard Haven. There she sat on a mooring with minimal necessary upkeep until 1994. In the early nineties with a dwindling market for windjammer cruises which leave out most modern amenities kids became the new direction for the Coastwise Packet Company - the original name for what is now also The Black Dog Tall Ships. Because of the success of these "Kids Cruises" on board the Shenandoah, Alabama was to be rebuilt by the Five Corners Shipbuilding Company headed by Gary Maynard a former First Mate that sailed on the Shenandoah. Most of the work was done in Vineyard Haven with the vessel afloat on her mooring using Captain Douglas' own power tools and shop space. Any other work was done in Fairhaven, Massachusetts at D.N. Kelly's Shipyard.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

I was standing by the windowOn a cold and cloudy dayWhen I saw the hearse come rollingTo carry my mother awayWill the circle be unbrokenBye and bye Lord bye and byeThere's a better home a waitingIn the sky Lord in the skyI said to the undertakerUndertaker please drive slowFor this lady you are carryingLord I hate to see her goWill the circle be unbrokenBye and bye Lord bye and byeThere's a better home a waitingIn the sky Lord in the skyWell I followed close behind herTried to hold up and be braveBut I could not hide my sorrowWhen they laid her in that graveWill the circle be unbrokenBye and bye Lord bye and byeThere's a better home a waitingIn the sky Lord in the skyI went back home that home was lonesomeSince my mother, she was goneAll my brothers and sisters crying